Full text of "News"

C.1ZA251
1986:Aug.

UNivfcHSITY Q\

LLINOIS LIBRAR V

Digitized by the Internet Archive

in 2013

http://archive.org/details/news1986univ

l^bo; /Quo- .

OCT i 5 2007

*pi

-„„, r « jdbbbII

til,njf^

1101

'■ - JV - ■ -! - *■> J BW 1 . TW- ' . ' J TJ > *l l > »■ 1 1| i . i .. r i fe d Bj? ..

AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING NEWSLETTER

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING • 1304 WEST PEN«STlVAfl<A ; AVqflUJ • UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN • 61801

From the Department Head

SEP 1 1986 3^

August, 1986, NO. 3, 1985-1986 Series

i)l«ECTUK

With this issue of the Newsletter,
we are including a copy of the new
AGRINEER. Ve hope you will enjoy
reading about the many student
activities that occurred during the
1985-1986 school year. In particular we
invite you to review the business
locations of our graduates listed in the
back of the AGRINEER and to let us know
of any additions or changes that should
be made.

The spring semester brought many
rewards and recognitions to the
Department. Both student clubs won top
awards at the Summer Meeting of ASAE in
San Luis Obispo, California. We are
proud of our clubs and their advisers
for these accomplishments.

Faculty recruiting continued with
three new Assistant Professors hired to
begin the fall semester. Ve are pleased
to finally have all staff positions
filled as we begin the new year.

Enrollment continues to be steady
at the undergraduate level and has
increased at the graduate student level

Agr. Mech students in California (I to r): Mike Miller,
Rich Gould (with member mile award), Kevin Nieman (with
FIEI award,) and Shawn Colgan.

for the fall term. The Department has
continued to be strong and well-
supported by campus administration. The
second year of the IBM EXCEL project
funding has greatly strengthened the
computing resources for undergraduate
use. The addition of staff computers
has given virtually every staff member
the opportunity and the access to
personal and technical computing.

The Department has a new Ford 4810
Tractor that burns pure ethanol made
from corn that will be tested on one of
the research farms during the coming
year and a John Deere 755 mowing tractor
donated by the John Deere Horicon Works
for the Agricultural Engineer Research
Farm.

This fall a new course will be
offered for freshmen in Agricultural
Engineering: AgE 199 Introduction to
Agricultural Engineering. The course
will replace Ag 100 and be taught by the
Department Head.

Looking forward to another
interesting and event-packed year ahead.

Agrr. Engr. students in California (I to r): Lori Rursch, Bill
Brown, Chris Dineen (with member mile award), John Barthel
(with FIEI award), Jennifer Kmetz, Roger Rohlfing, Ed Zwilling
and Karl Snyder, Grad Assistant.

Students Win at ASAE Meeting

Agr Eng Spring Banquet

Both student clubs won awards at
the ASAE Annual Meeting at San Luis
Obispo, CA. The Illini Agricultural
Mechanization Club took top honors in
the annual Farm and Industrial Equipment
(FIEI) Trophies Competition for
University Agricultural Mechanization
clubs. The Illinois Student Branch took
first -runner up honors in the FIEI
competition for branches numbering 35 or
more members.

Each of our Illinois student clubs
received the Member Mile Award for
students traveling the greatest
distance. There were 7 student branch
members and 4 agr mech members attending
the meetings. In all, the two clubs came
home with a total of 4 awards. Both
clubs had a member elected to a national
office, namely:

John Barthel — National Secretary of
ASAE Student Branches

Kevin Niemann — 1st Vice President
of Ag Mech Clubs

AG Mech Club Awards

The Illini Agricultural
Mechanization Club held their Awards
Banquet in April. Larry Uerries,
Director of the Illinois Department of
Agricultural from Springfield was the
featured speaker. A major feature of the
evening was the awarding of over $1,000
worth of prizes to the winners of the
1986 Skills Contest. There were 5 places
in each of the five divisions of Power
and Machinery, Soil and Water,
Structures and Environment, Electric
Power and Processing and Shop and 5
awards in the Overall division. Steve
Bush was awarded a $100 savings bond
furnished by John Deere as the overall
winner .

Greg Steidinger of Forest, IL
received $300 for the Outstanding
Agricultural Mechanization Student Award
which is presented to an Agr Mech
student who has maintained high
scholarship and has been active in the
Ag Mech Club.

Kevin Niemann of Litchfield, IL was
presented $250 for being chosen for the
Batemann Congeniality Award. He was
selected by his peers as one with the
ability to "get along with people."

The Agricultural Engineering
Student Branch had a very successful
spring banquet at the Illini Union in
late April. After the presentation of
many awards the students put on a skit
to welcome our newest staff members,
Drs. Coddington, Pershing, and
Christ ianson. A summary of the many
awards presented are listed below:

1. J. A. Weber Memorial Award ($300)

David R. Griffith, New Douglas

2. Bateman Congeniality Award ($250)

Lori J. Rursch, Taylor Ridge

3. Ralph Hay Working Scholarship ($300)

David L. Howland, Kampsville

4. Frank Bauling Memorial Scholarship

($300)

John C. Barthel, Ridott

5. E. W. Lehmann Awards ($300)

David R. Griffith, New Douglas
Marcia A. McCutchan, Aledo
John C. Endsley, Mount Erie
Karl B. Vandermyde, Morrison

6. Jonathan Pierce Memorial Aware ($400)

J. Willian Brown, Winchester

7. Consolidation Coal Co. Award ($500)

Don M. Nixon, Clinton

8. John Deere Foundation Scholarship

($1,000)

Thomas J. Crowell, Peoria

9. ASAE Student Honor Awards (key)

John C. Endsley, Mount Erie
Jon Stolz, Gibson City

Larry Worries (left), Director of Illinois Department of Agri-
culture and nephew, Dan Worries, Illini Mech Club member.

Carroll Goering (seated) and Dr. Pershing with new
ethanol-powered tractor.

Ethanol-Powered Tractor

The Department received a sizeable
discount on the purchase of a Ford,
model 4810, ethanol-powered tractor in
June, 1986. The tractor was one of 9
such tractors produced by Ford for use
in the United States. The Illinois
Highway Department purchased the other 8
tractors for use in mowing roadsides.

The 4810 tractor is a derivative of
Ford's 4610 diesel tractor; only the
engine has been modified. New pistons
were installed to reduce the compression
ratio from 16:1 down to 12:1. The
injection system was removed and
replaced with a carburetor and a spark-
ignition system. Also, a small gasoline
tank was added so that gasoline could be
sprayed into the intake air for
wintertime starting. Ford advises that
the tractor pto power was increased from
38.8 kW to 40.3 kW by converting to
ethanol power.

So far, the tractor has been in
heavy demand for use in various exhibits
and demonstrations; for example, it will
be included in the University's exhibit
at the Illinois State Fair. Later, it
will be used in cooperation with the
Agronomy Department at the Orr farm.
Dr. Carroll Goering has written a
proposal which, if funded, will support
departmental research on the tractor.
The intent is to instrument the tractor
and a comparable diesel tractor so that
performance data can be collected while
the tractors are doing normal farm work.
We hope to learn if the ethanol-powered
tractor has advantages which could help
offset the present higher cost of

ethanol fuel. Currently, ethanol fuel
costs about $1.40 per gallon while
petroleum fuels cost less than 90 cents
per gallon. We also want to observe
whether any operational difficulties are
experienced, for example, with winter
time starting.

Teaching Excellence Awards

The Department established the
Teaching Excellence Award to recognize
excellence in teaching by faculty
members and to select departmental
candidates for the campus-wide Award for
Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching.
Awards including an engraved plaque were
presented at the Agricultural
Engineering Awards Banquet to Rant
Mitchell for the faculty teaching award
and to Karl Snyder for the graduate
assistant teaching award.

Rent is Head of the Soil and Water
Division and does teaching and research
in that area. He is a graduate of Iowa
St. Univ. and has his Ph D from the
Univ. of Illinois. He was instrumental
in developing the proposal that helped
the Department win one of the IBM/EXCEL
grants for c o mp u t e r - a s s i s t e d
instructional programs. Karl is a
graduate of Pennsylvania St. Univ. and
is working on his Ph D in the Power and
Machinery area.

The Department has been well
recognized by receiving teaching awards
this year. It was reported in the last
newsletter that Carroll Goering received
the 1986 Everitt Award for outstanding
under-graduate teaching in the College
of Engineering. Rent Mitchell was also
the recipient of the 1986 Alpha Zeta
Outstanding Teaching Award in the
College of Agricultural.

Teaching Excellence Awards (I. to r.): Karl Snyder, Grad Asst.;
Dr. Pershing, Bept. Head; Kent Mitchell, Faculty.

New Staff Members Join Department Staff News

For the first time in several
years, the Department will have all of
its academic staff positions filled when
three new staff members join us for the
Fall Semester. John Reid joins the
Power and Machinery staff as an
Assistant Professor in the area of
Biosensing and Robotics. He received his
B.S. and M.S. from V P I at Blacksburg
and has just finished his Ph D at Tex
A & M.

Gary Riskowski comes to the
Structures and Environment group as an
Assistant Professor in teaching and
research in structural design and
materials. Gary has been on the staff of
Midwest Plan Service for the past 6
years while working on his Ph D at Iowa
State Univ. He has his B.S. and his M.S.
from Nebraska and has worked for both
Lesters and Wick Buildings.

J. Bruce Litchfield comes as an
Assistant Professor and will be the
first staff member in our new area of
food engineering. He has a B.S. in
Mechanical Engineering from the Univ. of
Illinois. He has an M.S. in Food
Engineering from Purdue University and
is just finishing a Ph D from Purdue
Univ. in Food Engineering. He also has 3
years experience in the Food Engineering
area working for General Foods Corp.

Staff Leaving Department

Ten-Hong Chen, Visiting Assistant
Professor, left in mid-July to join the
staff at Florida Stat Univ. at
Gainesville as a Postdoctoral Fellow.

Young Jo Hen completed his Ph D in
the Spray Application area working with
Loren Bode and has joined the staff at
Clemson Univ. He will be joined by his
wife In— Tee who has also finished her Ph
D in Food Science.

Curt Heller will be completing his
Ph D in Food Engineering later this fall
and will also Join the staff at Clemson
in the area of Food Engineering.

Randy Hartwig, lab assistant for
Don Day, left in mid July to begin work
on an M.S. in Agricultural Engineering
at Iowa State Univ. in the area of grain
qual i ty .

Lee Christianson attended the
ASHRAE Indoor Air Quality Seminar in
Atalanta in April.

Nelson Buck attended the USDA
Beltsville Symposium on Agricultural
Research in early May.

Don Jedele and Lee Christianson
represented the University of Illinois
at the Midwest Plan Service Annual
Meeting at Ames, Iowa in May.

Demetres Briassoulis presented a
paper entitled "Design Considerations
For Empty Steel Silos Under Wind
Loading" at the Powder & Bulk Solids
Conf erence/Exibition at the O'Hare
Exposition Center in May.

Clint Armstrong, graduate
assistant, spent the month of May in
Mauritania (Africa) on assignment with
the U.S. Peace Corps as team leader for
program development and training of
volunteers in irrigation technology.
During his return trip he visited the
Danish Hydraulic Institute and NIAE in
Silsoe, England, consulting on soil
erosion modeling.

Bob Aherin traveled to Orlando,
Flordia, in early June to participate in
the Summer Meeting of the National
Institute for Farm Safety as a member of
the Board of Directors.

Carroll Drabloe attended a Water
Table Management Seminar in Raleigh,
North Carolina, in early June.

Lee Christianson was in Portland,
Oregon, in late June to serve on the
ASHRAE Standards Committee on Fan
Testing and Rating.

Marvin Peuleen attended a meeting
of the North American Export Grain
Assoc, on U.S. Grain Grades and
Standards in New Orleans in late May.

Hike Gingerich end Steve Hbuvi have
joined the staff as new graduate
students. Mike received a B.S. in
General Engineering at the Univ. of
Illinois in 1985 and Steve is a native
of Kenya and has Just finished a B.S. at
the Univ. of Nebraska.

Roecoe Perching end Gene Shove were
elected a Fellow of the American Society
of Agricultural Engineers at the Summer
ASAE meeting. Only 2% of the ASAE
membership become Fellows.

Roscoe Pershing was awarded the
Honorary State Farmer Degree at the
Illinois State FFA Convention held on
Campus in June.

Errol and Erica Rodda visited the U
of I after one year as Head of Party for
the Tipan project in Pakistan.

Bob Aherin traveled to Columbia,
Missouri, in mid July to participate in
a USDA Coop Extension Service Grain
Safety Task Force meeting.

Loren Bode has been appointed
Associate Head of the Department of
Agricultural Engineering and will assist
Dr. Pershing and represent him in his
absence.

Frank Andrew, Professor Emeritus,
underwent a hip replacement in mid May.
His progress has been good and he now
visits the Department without his cane.

1986 Graduates

Seventeen Agricultural Engineering
students received a B.S degree at the
end of the 1986 Spring Semester. Listed
below are the students and where they
located:

John Endeley — Grad School, Univ. of 111.
Alan Fairgrieves — Cummins Engine,

Columbus, IN
Craig Fink — not known
Dave Griffith— Grad School, U. of 111.
Neil Keleher — R & R Donnelly Co., —
Jennifer Kmetz — SCS, USDA, Carbondale,

IL
Martin Lehman — Grad School, U. of 111.
Joe Lehman — Dow Chemical Co., Midland,

MI
Mike Lee — Chrysler Corp., Detroit, MI
Marcia McCutchan — Grad School, V.P.I. ,

Blaksburg, VA
Don Nixon — Dennis Roby and Assoc. Inc.,

Decatur, IL
Jerry Robinson — Patrick Engineering,

Glen Ellen, IL
Jon Stolz — Indiana Dept. of Natural

Resources, Indiaiapolis, IN
Karl Vandermyde — Caterpillar Co.,

Peoria, IL
Robert Weber — not known
Roland Weber — Law School, Northern 111.

Univ., Dekalb, IL
Ed Zwilling— Grad School, Univ. of 111.

ASAE Annual Meeting

Eighteen staff and 11 students
traveled to California State Polytechnic
Univ. and San Luis Obispo to attend the
ASAE Annual Meeting in late June. Paper
were presented by:

C. L. Armstrong, J. K. Mitchell,
"Transformation of rainfall by
plant canopy."

R. C. Coddington, "Interactive
graphics — a key to today's

design department."

B. Engle and W. D. Lembke,
"Irrigation crop coefficients for

Illinois corn."
R. F. Espenschied, "Using computer

graphics in Agr Mech and Agr Engr

instruction."
M. C. Hirschi and B. J. Barfield,

"KYERMO- a physically-based

research erosion model."
G. F. Mclsaac, J. K. Mitchell, J.

C. Siemens, and J. W. Hummel, "The
effect of cultivation on runoff,
soil loss, and corn and soybean
yields."

G. F. Mclsaac, J. K. Mitchell, and
M. C. Hirschi, "Slope gradient

effects on soil loss from

disturbed lands."
M. R. Paulsen, L. D. Hill, and G. C.
Shove, "Temperature of corn during

ocean vessel transport."
J. F. Reid (new staff member),

"Segmentation of row crop images

for determination of guidance

parameters."
G. C. Shove and D. W. Morrison,

"Microprocessor controlled low

temperature grain drying."

Educational Aide Blue Ribbon Awards were
received by:

Bob Aherin (2 ribbons) for Slides

and Film Strips
Young Jo Han for Computer Programs
Don Jedele (2 ribbons) for

Circulares and Bulletins
Art Muehling for Extension Methods
Steve Pearson and Loren Bode (3

ribbons) for Manuals

Alumni News

George V. A. Hahoney (B.S. '49)
reports that he has retired as of May
31, 1986, from the Agricultural
Engineering Department at Oklahoma State
Univ. at Stillwater. George joined the
faculty at Stillwater in September,
1949, just after graduating from the
Univ. of Illinois. George has two
children, Kevin, a captain in the Air
Force at Tinker AFB, Oklahoma, and
Siobhan.who is employed as a supervisor
in a nursing home in Oklahoma City.

Dean F. Hopkins (Alumni, Ph.D, '53)
has been with McDonnell-Douglas in the
Los Angles area for 25 years. He is
presently Manager of. the Controls Group
working on a land - based, non-nuclear
defensive interceptor for the Army. In
January, they received a 5-year, one-
third billion dollar project to design
and test this 3-stage missile which is
part of the Star Wars program. Dean has
6 engineers in his group but says there
are 90 engineers working on the entire
project. He says the project proposal
involved 53 volumes of about 300
pagesper volume. He says his strong
point is writing proposals.

Dean and Bernice live in Costa
Mesa. Bernice is busy continuing to
work as a color consultant and is on the
staff of the Orange Community College in
charge of their annual fabric fair.
Lilian, 30, has an M.S. in Geography
from UCLA and works for the Army Core of
Engineers. She has started training to
become a Court Reporter. Donna, 24,
works for an escroe service where she is
manager of the foreclosures division and
is being married in August. Steve, 14,
will be a freshman in high school.

Dave Ralaton (B.S. '52) reported at
the ASAE meeting that he now is National
Design Engineer, SCS, USDA, in
Washington D.C. Dave says that he works
on a variety of projects. Last Fall he
spent some time in Germany on a project.
Dave and his wife Margaret have 4
chi ldren .

Joe V. Haai (B.S. '53) has been
named associate chief of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture's Soil
Conservation Service with appointment
effective June 8, 1986. In this
position, he is second-in-command to SCS
Chief Wilson Scaling.

Irvin A. Eickaeyer (B.S. '57) has
left Case International and is now
Project Engineer for A R Corporation
at Bryan, Ohio.

George R. Jedlicka (B.S. '57) has
his own company in Cape Girardeau,
Missouri, designing steel silos, mostly
for industrial use. He also spends
considerable time managing projects for
Proctor and Gamble which have a local
plant. He was accompanied to the Summer
ASAE meeting by his wife Aline and his
daughter Julie.

Wayne Gruben ('57) retired on May
13, 1986, from the John Deere Dubuque
Works, Dubuque, Iowa after 29 years of
service. He joined John Deere
immediately after graduation at the John
Deere Spreader Works in East Moline, IL.
Wayne was on leave from the Spreader
Works from 1961 to 1963 to get his M.S.
degree in Agricultural Engineering from
Purdue University. In 1969 he moved to
Dubuque, Iowa, and began designing road
machinery in the Product Engineering
Department. Wayne's position at
retirement was Lead Engineer of the
Scraper design group.

His retirement plans include plenty
of golf, relaxation, travel and
returning to the U of I campus where his
son, Pete, will enter this fall on an
athletic scholarship as an inter-
collegiate swimmer.

Orville C. Teak* (B.S. '61) is a
corrosion engineer with Aramco Technical
Services in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. He
was recently featured in a recent issue
of the Arabian Sun analyzing solar array
output on an offshore oil platform in
the Baerri Field. In a program to
examine the technical and economic
feasibility of solar-powered cathodic
protection systems for offshore well
casings, Aramco was probably first in
the oil industry by installing 20 solar-
powered generating panels in offshore
well platforms in the Berri Field last
year .

Gary L. Stahl (B.S. '62, M.S. '63)
has changed employment. He is presently
working as Developmental Engineer with
Gates Rubber Company at Rockford,
Illinois.

Alumni News (cont)

Grain Quality Receives Attention

Roland Strohean (B.S. '62, M.S.
'65) is on the staff at California
Polytechnic State University at San Luis
Obispo and was in charge of registration
at the ASAE Summer meeting. He has been
at Cal Poly since 1967 and is Professor
in charge of computer operations in the
Department of Agricultural Engineering.
Roland and his wife have two children, a
daughter, 11 and a son, 8.

Kurt D. Meibergall (B.S. '80) has
taken a new job. He is now Project
Manager, Federal Sites Management Unit,
Remedial Project Management Section,
Division of Land Pollution Control,
Illinois Environmental Protection
Agency, at Springfield, Illinois.

Karen P. Jordan (B.S. '84) and Hark
R. Tingling (B.S. '84) were married on
April 5, 1986, at St. Mary's Catholic
Church in Farmerville, IL. Mark is
Compliance Engineer for Black Beauty
Coal Company, Mt. Sterling, IL. Karen
is Soil Conservationist, SCS, Mt.
Sterling, IL. Karen was an Agricultural
Engineer, SCS, at Bourbonnais, IL before
the wedding. They are at home about a
mile south of Mt. Sterling. Everyone is
welcome.

Jeff Springer (B.S., Agr. Mech.
'84) has moved to Oakland, IL, as
Assistant Elevator Manager of Taber
Grain which is owned by Archer Daniels
Midland. He has been with ADM since
graduation and is pleased with his work
although this is his third location over
a fairly short period of time.

In March of 1986, Marvin Paulsen,
Gene Shove, and Larry Pruitt were part
of a team of researchers that measured
quality of corn on a second shipment of
corn from New Orleans to the port of
Kashima, Japan. Corn was probe sampled
and temperature and humidity sensors
were installed in two holds. Starting
level of BCFM (broken corn and foreign
material) was about 1.9%. Shove and
Paulsen and others on the team met the
corn in Japan and found 7.8* BCFM.
Temperature monitoring identified
several hot spots, mold, and increased
moisture in the hot spots. However,
overall increases in tempertures were
minimal, because of the relatively cold
grain at 14 C that was initially loaded
on the ship in March. These findings
contrast with a previous shipment loaded
in May 1985 with corn at 22 C, that did
have significant increases in
temperature to 47 C at locations 1 m
below the grain surface. Both shipments
were loaded with corn at 15.0% moisture.
A video taping crew joined the team to
make a film of the shipping of grain
including the equipment used, the route
it takes, the end use in Japan, and the
products produced from the grain. The
project was funded by the Illinois Corn
Marketing Board and has provided much
useful information in the recent
discussions on grain quality.

Both, Shove and Paulsen testified
before the U.S. House of Representatives
Committee on Agriculture at the field
hearing held on July 21, 1986. Their
testimony was addressed at improving
grain quality by improved drying methods
and measurement of corn breakage
susceptibility, hardness, and chemical
property values which affect the ability
of the grain to be converted to value-
added products.

Unloading U.S. corn from ocean vessel at Zen-noh grain
facility, Kashima, Japan.

Marvin Paulsen (left) and Lowell Hill (Agr. Econ.) with grain
sampling crew (Larry Pruiett, far left) on ship in Japan.

Name (Maiden)

Graduation Year

Degree

Address (where newsletter should be mailed)

City State Zip

Current Occuptation

Employer, location

News

The Agricultural Engineering staff and alumni are interested in where you are and
what you are doing. If the address on this newsletter is incorrect, please let
us know. This copy of the newsletter is being mailed with the Agrineer. If you
are an agricultural engineering graduate of this Deaprtment, look under the
Alumni listing in the back of the yearbook. If your listing is incorrect, send
us a correction. If you know of others that are listed wrong, let us know this
also.

Fill out the form above and send it along with any other news to: Newsletter,
Agricultural Engineering Dept., 1304 U. Pennsylvania Ave., Urbana, IL 61801.

This is the last edition of the 1985-86 series of the University of Illinois
Agricultural Engineering Newsletter. The 1986-87 schoolyear begins the last week
of August. We plan our next newsletter this Fall.

Public Relations Committee:

P. W. Benson
R. C. Hay

R. C. Coddington
U. H. Peterson

C. J. W. Drablos

D. G. Peterson

A. J. Huehling,
Chairman

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Agricultural Engineering Department
1304 West Pennsylvania Avenue
Urbana. III. 61801

Aaaress Correction Requested

Non-Profit Org.

U.S. Postage

PAID

Permit No. 75
Urbana, III. 61801